In the span of less than two years, Chad Alexander earned a preferred walk-on opportunity at Georgia Tech, earned a big role on special teams as a freshman in 2023 and earned a chance to be counted on for meaningful carries as a running back during the first half of this season.

That determination, attitude and hard work earned him something else pretty big this week – a full athletic scholarship.

During Tuesday’s practice, Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key planned a bit of a surprise for Alexander, who has established himself in the first six games as the top backup in the backfield to Jamal Haynes, as Key used a bit of a diversion to cause some confusion and then send the team into a celebration as he announced to Alexander that he had been placed on scholarship.

"We were in the middle of practice, going through 7-on-7, and police officers pull up with the lights going on their cars so everyone just stopped what they were doing and were just kind of like 'what is going on?'" said Alexander. "And then (Coach) Key brought the whole team up, and he just announced to everybody that I was on scholarship."

Alexander is coming off his best game at the running back position in last Saturday’s 24-14 win over Duke as he was a great compliment to Haynes in the running game, rushing for a career-high 59 yards on 10 carries with a long of 22. He now has 141 yards on 26 carries (5.4 yards per carry average) for the season.

This production in the backfield follows a freshman season in which Alexander made an impression on the coaching staff by competing on special teams as he saw action in nine games and made three total tackles while also recovering a muffed punt in the Jackets’ win at Wake Forest.

Key said he has been impressed with what Alexander has accomplished in his year and a half with the program and was proud to reward him with that full scholarship.

"This guy came in as a true freshman last year, played on all our special teams, was really raw as a running back. He's really worked his butt off over the last year to become a better running back,” said Key. “I keep going back to this one play in a scrimmage in the stadium over the summer where he finally got the ball in his hand and he hit it full speed. And I pulled him out of it then and told him 'that's it. We finally saw it.' Ever since then, and credit to Norv (Norval McKenzie) and Buster (Faulkner), they've really believed in that kid and spent a lot of time and energy on him, developing him as a running back. And he's worked to where he's the solid No. 2 for us. He had some really hard runs the other night, some explosive runs. He was a guy that was banged up some after the first game or two. Really happy for him to the point we were able to announce to the team that he'll be a scholarship player for us, and he's earned every bit of that. And it was really cool how it happened too."

Alexander had some other options during his senior year at Archer High as he had numerous offers from FBS schools, Ivy League Schools and service academies. At one point he was committed to Army before changing his plans late by decommitting just before early signing day in December and having some visits set up. He said after visiting Georgia Tech and getting to know a little about the coaches that he figured out how good of a fit it was as a preferred walk-on.

"I was planning on going to Army. I ended up decommitting before the early signing day, and then I had a couple options to go to different schools, mainly Tech as a PWO as well as the school across the street (Georgia State) for the same opportunity,” said Alexander. “And honestly, the deciding factor for me was just taking a visit to both places and getting a feel. Really feeling a connection with Coach Norv and feeling like he believed in me, feeling like this would be a right fit for me. As well as Coach Faulkner, Coach Key, everybody just instilling confidence in me to make that decision."

Alexander said when he got to Georgia Tech, he knew he had some work to do to get in the rotation at running back with some established guys already there so he was determined to show the coaches he could do whatever was asked of him, including really digging in and taking pride in his role on special teams.

"Special teams, it's one-third of the game,” said Alexander. “It's one play for a large chunk of land. We put extreme emphasis on all of our special teams, and I think that, just having me play a smaller role, focusing on my 1 out of 11, making sure I could do my job just on special teams, showing and proving to them (the coaching staff) that I was capable of doing my job. That elevated me to playing on offense."

Alexander continued to work on his skills at running back and got the chance to make an impact in the opener back in August vs. Florida State in Ireland. When Trey Cooley was injured early in that game, Alexander immediately stepped up to spell Jamal Haynes when needed and proceeded to go for 41 yards on seven carries in the Jackets’ 24-21 win over the Seminoles.

Alexander said that kind of attitude to be ready whenever they are needed is something that has been instilled in them through McKenzie, the running backs coach and run game coordinator.

"Absolutely. Coach McKenzie. he makes sure that every running back in the room is ready to play whenever their number is called," said Alexander. "So I have complete faith in every running back to get in the game and do their job. Of course I practice like I'm expecting to play so that you put your best foot forward, put yourself in the best position to execute. I just did that week in, week out, got my opportunity and took full advantage."

Coming off a big night in the running game for the Georgia Tech offense in which the Jackets racked up 245 yards total on 49 carries in the win over Duke, Alexander said it was good to see the team get back to doing what they want to do with a physical, imposing rushing attack.

"Honestly, it was electric," said Alexander. "Just getting back to what we were used to and what we were trying to do. Just pounding the ball and take away their will to fight especially in the fourth quarter. It was great to have some big explosive runs and keep the ball moving, keep possession of the ball and win the game."

Now as the full-scholarship running back Alexander and his teammates get ready for an ACC showdown at North Carolina on Saturday at noon, he said he knows it’s another opportunity for the running game and the entire team to take another step toward being consistent.

"It's definitely a big opportunity to stay consistent, win on the road," said Alexander. "We're looking forward to just staying the course, being consistent, just doing exactly what we planned to do with executing the gameplan. Staying positive throughout the whole thing, bringing energy to the game."

Georgia Tech will kick off vs. North Carolina on Saturday at noon in Chapel Hill. With Cooley still unavailable due to injury and Trelain Maddox also nursing a bit of an injury, Alexander will likely get the chance at several carries behind the starter Haynes, who is coming off his first 100-plus yard game of the season vs. Duke.